Baked Lemon Ricotta Cheesecake

Today I used the ricotta I made last night to make Baked Lemon Ricotta Cheesecake. It was awesome!!! I made four cheesecakes in tart tins.

 Here is the recipe: 

BASE

• Melted butter
• 1 cup of desiccated coconut
• 1 cup of oats 

FILLING

• 480g (2 cups) fresh ricotta
• 110g (1/2 cup) caster sugar
• 60ml (1/4 cup) thickened cream
• 2 eggs
• 2 tsp vanilla extract
• 2 tbsp lemon curd 

1.  To make the base combine butter, coconut and oats till pliable then line a cake tin or moulds to the thickness you want. 
2. Place the ricotta, sugar, cream, eggs, lemon curd and vanilla extract in the bowl of a food processor and process until smooth. Pour into the prepared pan and smooth the surface with the back of a spoon
3. Bake in a preheated oven for 40 minutes or until golden brown and just set. Remove from the oven and set aside for 30 minutes to cool slightly.

This tasted fantastic!! Highly recommended.

Adventures in cheese making!

I have always thought that making cheese would be very hard to do, but I have come across a way to make a nice riccotta style cheese that is cheap and easy to do. Now this isn't anything new, many people would have been doing this over the years but this is my first foray into cheesemaking. First off, I made my own yogurt - which I described in my previous post here  then I took a tea towel and put it over a bowl. I then poured my yogurt into the tea towel and pulled the edges together and tied it up with a rubber band. You then put it into the fridge over night in a container so that the container catches the whey. Save the whey in a jar as you can add that to preserves to extend shelf life and drinks/cooking for a healthy gut. Here is what I ended up with.

 It wasn't too sour and it had a very creamy texture - overall, I loved it! In fact, I loved it so much I made more last night. It is in the fridge doing it's thing as I type. Last night's dinner was home made pizza and I sprinkled some of my cheese onto my pizza. The cheese kept it's shape nicely and tasted fantastic.

Today I will be making a cheesecake and also raviolli filling with the cheese I made last night. The raviolli filling recipe was given to me by a friend and I can't wait to try it. I will post about both when I have done them.